Community Transit approves service cuts

By Brian Doennebrink

Due to lower sales tax revenues brought on by the economic recession, the Community Transit Board of Directors recently approved service cuts which will take effect June 13, which includes suspension of all Community Transit service on Sundays and major holidays. Major holidays include New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas.

A less-publicized aspect of the service cutback is the scaling back of one-seat service to neighborhoods. Instead, many routes will be now start and end at transit centers, many of which are underutilized. In many cases, riders will still be able to take local routes to transit centers, where they can transfer to the commuter routes.

Shoreline riders will be mostly affected by the following changes: 

• the suspension of Sunday and holiday service; 
• the elimination of the UW-bound #870, which presently crosses North 205th with stops at the north edge of Aurora Village, at Meridian, and 6th Ave. NE; and 
• the reduction of the #101 buses that travel from Aurora Village along highway 99 to Airport Road and east to Mariner Park and Ride (128th) from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes.